The Fine Line Between Enemies and Family
by dragonprincess1988
Summary: Tim never anticipated that there would be people he considered both enemies and family. Then again, Dick definitely should have left his coffee out of this. (Day Four of TimDrakeWeek: Prompt: Enemies / Family)


Tim has had quite a few enemies over the years. Some of them were merely exasperating, while others were truly treacherous. His family, on the other hand, was always small and more distant than anything else. Over the years, he's certainly added people to the family category, but the fact of the matter is, Tim has always had more enemies than family.

That said, he never anticipated that there would be people who fell into both categories, but Jason and Damian are in a class of their own. There are days, even now, when Tim's not exactly sure which category those two should actually be put into. Furthermore, he's not certain if Jason and Damian are more of the irksome or lethal sort. After all, he's fairly sure neither of them is currently trying to kill him, but with the way that they're both lurking outside of his bedroom door, Tim figures it's best to err on the side of caution.

It's been five whole minutes and Tim is honestly considering just making a break for it. He can definitely be out the window and scaling up to the roof before the other two make a move, but from there it gets a little tricky. There are only so many places to go, and they might already have the roof rigged with something nasty. Tim considers the merits of simply heading down, once he dashes out the window, but there isn't a lot of cover, which is something that he's sure the other two have accounted for.

He's just about to attack directly, when the other two burst into his room. Tim doesn't immediately spring into a fighting stance, but it's a near thing. He's also ignoring the fact that he uses the same tactics he would utilize while confronting an enemy with his brothers. After all, sometimes that behavior is completely justified, especially with these two. "What do you two want?"

Damian scowls but doesn't say anything, which is never a good sign. Meanwhile, Jason merely sighs. "Now, now, Baby Bird, is that any way to talk to your favorite sibling?"

Tim rolls his eyes as he edges just a little closer to the window. "Cassandra isn't here."

Jason places a hand over his heart in mock pain. "You wound me."

Tim folds his arms over his chest and huffs out an annoyed breath. "What do you want?"

"Right to business as always…this is why I like you." Tim gestures for Jason to speed it along. It's not as though he doesn't have other things to do today. Jason rolls his eyes, but continues. "Dickie-bird is being more annoying than ever, and we want to enlist your help in giving him a taste of his own medicine and show him how truly obnoxious three younger brothers can be."

"So, in other words, you want my help with this, because the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Jason shakes his head as he gets between Tim and the window, shooing him towards the door. "No, I want your help with this, because Golden Boy deserves to have the three of us united against him, especially since he keeps going on and on about us working together. Not to mention, we're family. Irritating each other is kind of the name of the game."

Tim just stares at him for a long moment. Jason and Tim might consider each other brothers, but Tim and Damian barely get along at the best of times. Not to mention, there's obviously more to this. "Let's just assume that being family isn't a good enough reason for me to get involved with…whatever this is, give me a better reason as to why I would want to help you."

Jason drapes an arm over Tim's shoulder as he shuffles him out of the door. "Remember last week when all of your coffee went missing and the only thing left in its place was decaffeinated tea?" At Tim's nod, Jason continues. "What if I told you I have photographic evidence that it was Dick?"

Tim's eyes narrow as various plans run through his mind. "Then I would remind you that I would need to verify the evidence before taking any action. However, I would also like to state for the record that those who mess with my caffeine take their lives into their own hands."

Jason nods to Damian, who hands over a folder containing date and time stamped photos of Dick removing the coffee from Tim's various stashes. Each of the pictures has Oracle's signature at the bottom, and Tim is left wondering what exactly these two offered Barbara in order to get these, or worse, what Dick did to enrage her this much. Either way, Tim has some scheming to do. "What do you two need me to do?" Tim smirks as he considers the possibilities.

Jason grins mischievously as the three of them head down the stairs. "See, I knew you would see it our way. Now, we all know that Dick has a cereal addiction that nearly rivals your caffeine addiction."

Damian scoffs again. "Nothing rivals Drake's dependency on caffeine."

Tim doesn't respond. Besides, even he knows that it's probably true. Still, he thinks working with these two should be interesting. After all, working alongside family is always so much more enjoyable than when he's been stuck working with his various enemies. It's even better when it doesn't involve life and death situations. However, Dick might not agree with Tim by the end of all of this, but that's his problem. He really should have left Tim's coffee out of this, if he didn't want to be treated like the enemy.

The End


End file.
